By Carys
August 12 2005

With news of clubs such as Newcastle showing an interest in Michael Owen and the lack of interest shown by Real Madrid you would think he would jump at the chance to come back to England

 

It appeared Owen was holding out for either a move to Manchester United or former club Liverpool - but both seem to have ruled out a move.

 

However according to Spanish sources (including Marca) it would appear that for taxation reasons it may be in the player’s best interest to stay in Spain until the last day of the transfer window.

 

Should Michael Owen fail to spend a year in Spain its thought his tax would run into a few million euros.

 

Despite this Graeme Souness, Newcastle manager is still fairly confident Owen may make the move to Newcastle.

 

"Without exciting the fans too much, I think there is a good chance; we are still in there.”

"We are targeting, and have been targeting, several players. The Michael Owen situation, we know everything about Michael's situation -- he is a target. He is a top player but we also have other targets.

"We are targeting some big players and big players are expensive and their clubs do not want to sell them but we already have some outstanding players here at Newcastle.

"If I was a gambling man, which I am not, I would bet that we would have someone new in before the transfer window closes."

Other targets have included Nicolas Anelka and Luis Boa Morte of Fulham, yet so far Souness has Failed to fill the gaps he created at the end of last season.